I first encountered Gal Holiday and the Honkey Tonk Revue at the ‘Three Muses’ Frenchmen Street on a work trip to New Orleans last August and was immediately struck with their ability to reach out and connect with an audience. Having ‘bigged them up’ to my work pals since my return home, I was excited to find out from their web site that they were coming to Edinburgh this month.

Their gig last night coincided with the birthday of our colleague Alison which gave an excellent excuse for a dozen of us to expectantly troop down to Woodland Creatures on Leith walk. Before things kicked off, in a moment of self-doubt, I paused to reflect that this group were a long way from home and that the heat of the south or the liberally measured shots in The Three Muses may have influenced my interpretation of their abilities.

There was just a chance they might not live up to expectation. This hesitancy was unfounded.  To use an Americanism, ‘they hit it out of the park’. The audience loved Gal Holiday and the Honkey Tonk revue and demonstrated their appreciation with clapping, dancing, a heck of a lot of whooping and even communal singing (What?, in Edinburgh!).

The usually reserved Dunedinnach took quickly to the Brunet Diva in the cowboy boots and her band of handsome men.  ‘The Gal’ got us going with songs such as ‘Blue Ridge Baby’ and ‘Broke Down Broke’, threw in ‘Fulsome prison’ with a dash of ‘Don’t Think Twice’ and reached a peak of audience participation with the southern gospel classic ‘Will the Circle Be Unbroken’.

There were shouts from the audience for their song ‘The Long Black Ribbon’, which were duly obliged – The long Black Ribbon is a song about travelling to and from the west coast of America where the Revue are also a big hit.  My own personal favourite on the night (only for the, ‘big safties’) was ‘You Mean The World To Me’ which is the last track on their current album ‘Last to Leave’.

Vanessa Niemann aka Gal holiday (pictured above – photo by @JonGunnarPic ) explained that they wrote the track ‘You Mean The World To Me’ after Hurricane Katrina which separated people from each other and like, ‘The long Black Ribbon’ it also appears to be influenced by their touring which takes them away  a lot.

You get the feeling from their music that this band is genuinely sensitive to other people’s emotions and this feeling was confirmed after the show when they generously spent their time speaking at length to the audience. Chatting to the band after words, it was clear that these guys are some of the nicest people you could ever meet and you had to get your head round the idea that these appreciative, humble and thoughtful souls were the same confidant stars you had just seen on stage.

Gal Holiday and the Honkey Tonk Revue will be headlining the Maverick Americana Music Festival next week and play after Billy Bragg.  Yes – they are just that good 🙂 and yes, we were extremely lucky to see them in such an intimate venue. It’s very much a testimony to Woodland Creatures, Bark and Andrew Mills that they could bring this band to Edinburgh and put on such an outstanding show.

The show solidified Woodland Creatures’ reputation for being a boutique venue for high quality arts and music. Andrew Mill and The 5am Rumble warmed up the night and the best compliment I can give them is that I would have given my work mates their ticket money back if they had not enjoyed the night but after Andrew and his guys played the smiles on everyone’s faces told me my money was safe.

Their song about a pigeon falling in love with a lawnmower is soon to become a timeless classic and they set off the audience participation tone of the night with the community singing of their ‘filmed at Sandy Bells’ number ‘Sing Me A Love Song Where Nobody Dies’.

Indeed, it was such an action packed night that there was even some poetry thrown in between sets. For those that missed Gal Holiday and the Honkey Tonk Revue – they may have time for another show in Edinburgh on Monday or Tuesday and there is talk of them coming back next year – look out for news on their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/galholiday?fref=ts For those who can’t wait for that – there are interviews with Vanessa at nashvilleoverhere.com and Where’s Andrew and an excellent radio set that includes a question and answer session at KGNU Boulder Cabaret